‘Likely’ Stories
It is customary when sharing (or reading) the portents of a survey to
focus on the actions that respondents say they have, or will undertake.
But what about the things they say they will not do?
Human beings gravitate toward “norms,” of course. Plan sponsors, certainly those conscious of the personal liability that accompanies those responsibilities, can hardly be blamed for seeking the behavioral norms of their profession, drawing comfort from the collective movement of the “pack,” particularly with new and/or controversial ideas.
Large ‘Charge’
This past weekend I was reviewing Alight Solution’s 2019 Hot Topics in Retirement and Financial Wellbeing report. But, while the positive trendlines on things like financial wellness were interesting, what struck me in reviewing this particular survey were the (relatively) strong percentage weighing in on things they said they were notlikely to do, including:
Additionally, 25% (up from 21%) had no plans to implement initiative to address the retirement savings gap, 27% (up from 25%) were not at all likely to project the expected retirement income adequacy of the population, and 29% were not at all likely to “offer services, tools, or education campaigns on debt management.”
‘Not’ Likely
While the survey cited an impressive two-thirds of surveyed employers responding they are very likely to take steps in 2019 to create or focus on the financial wellbeing of their workers in ways that go beyond retirement savings – and even though this percentage grew from 30% in 2014 to 65% in 2019 – fully one in eight of these very large employers said they were not likely to create a broad financial wellbeing strategy. And there was the 1 in 10 who said they were not likely to recognize retirement readiness.
It has, of course, long been accepted wisdom that trends among larger employers are instructive in anticipating movements down market – and, in fact, on many things it has been (a notable exception: automatic enrollment, which, a decade after the Pension Protection Act’s implementation, among smaller programs significantly lags adoption by larger plans). Mind you, this survey is based on the perspectives of not just large employers – but very large employers – that employ, on average, 44,500 workers – and 17,000 even at the median (although 2% of the respondents had less than 1,000 workers). Consequently, those trendlines might be meaningful for the plans with which you work (particularly larger employers) – then again, they may not.
More than that, one should, of course, be careful in reading too much into trendlines from one period to the next – it’s rare that the survey respondents in one period are identical to those in another, and thus the difference – be it positive or negative – but particularly when the jumps are large – might be nothing more than what one group of employers say they will do versus a completely different group at a different point in time.
Caution is also warranted in reading too much into statements regarding planned, or intended, actions. While they’re doubtless an accurate assessment of planned undertakings at the time, we’re all very aware of how often those good intentions get derailed by any number of unanticipated events.
That said, I’d argue that in contemplating future trends, there’s merit in spending as much time looking at what plan sponsors say they aren’t likely to do, as we do the possibilities.
- Nevin E. Adams, JD
Human beings gravitate toward “norms,” of course. Plan sponsors, certainly those conscious of the personal liability that accompanies those responsibilities, can hardly be blamed for seeking the behavioral norms of their profession, drawing comfort from the collective movement of the “pack,” particularly with new and/or controversial ideas.
Large ‘Charge’
This past weekend I was reviewing Alight Solution’s 2019 Hot Topics in Retirement and Financial Wellbeing report. But, while the positive trendlines on things like financial wellness were interesting, what struck me in reviewing this particular survey were the (relatively) strong percentage weighing in on things they said they were notlikely to do, including:
- evaluate phased retirement alternatives (66% not likely to do)
- offer qualifying longevity annuity contract (QLAC) – 86%
- facilitate purchasing annuities outside the plan as options for plan distributions – 85%
- reduce the number of loans available – 86%
- allow terminated participants to continue loan repayments to reduce frequency of loan defaults – 67%
- offer student loan repayment assistance – 48%
- measure employee perceptions and/or suggestions for benefit improvements – 30%
Additionally, 25% (up from 21%) had no plans to implement initiative to address the retirement savings gap, 27% (up from 25%) were not at all likely to project the expected retirement income adequacy of the population, and 29% were not at all likely to “offer services, tools, or education campaigns on debt management.”
‘Not’ Likely
While the survey cited an impressive two-thirds of surveyed employers responding they are very likely to take steps in 2019 to create or focus on the financial wellbeing of their workers in ways that go beyond retirement savings – and even though this percentage grew from 30% in 2014 to 65% in 2019 – fully one in eight of these very large employers said they were not likely to create a broad financial wellbeing strategy. And there was the 1 in 10 who said they were not likely to recognize retirement readiness.
It has, of course, long been accepted wisdom that trends among larger employers are instructive in anticipating movements down market – and, in fact, on many things it has been (a notable exception: automatic enrollment, which, a decade after the Pension Protection Act’s implementation, among smaller programs significantly lags adoption by larger plans). Mind you, this survey is based on the perspectives of not just large employers – but very large employers – that employ, on average, 44,500 workers – and 17,000 even at the median (although 2% of the respondents had less than 1,000 workers). Consequently, those trendlines might be meaningful for the plans with which you work (particularly larger employers) – then again, they may not.
More than that, one should, of course, be careful in reading too much into trendlines from one period to the next – it’s rare that the survey respondents in one period are identical to those in another, and thus the difference – be it positive or negative – but particularly when the jumps are large – might be nothing more than what one group of employers say they will do versus a completely different group at a different point in time.
Caution is also warranted in reading too much into statements regarding planned, or intended, actions. While they’re doubtless an accurate assessment of planned undertakings at the time, we’re all very aware of how often those good intentions get derailed by any number of unanticipated events.
That said, I’d argue that in contemplating future trends, there’s merit in spending as much time looking at what plan sponsors say they aren’t likely to do, as we do the possibilities.
- Nevin E. Adams, JD
Comments
Post a Comment